The ultimate redhead!
Everything had begun with an innocent tease from Mimi, during a hot summer day in Odaiba. Jyou and the others were busy, so she was spending time with Sora and Koushiro in an ice cream shop.
"The two of you are redheads. But who is the alpha redhead? The ultimate redhead?" The girl inquired, winking.
Sora and Koushiro exchanged a couple of glances.
"I'm not sure what do you mean, but I think the answer should be obvious." Sora said, with a grin.
"Indeed, it's evident." Koushiro agreed.
The two redheads took a breath before answering, at the same time:
"Me!"
Sora and Koushiro stared at each other in complete shock.
"Well well well." Mimi was obviously having fun. "When it comes down to the ginger contest, one should not expect solidarity between the red-haired people."
"Koushiro-kun…" Sora sustained a smile. "It's not that I underestimate your contributions to the group, but I have more of an alpha personality than you."
"Sora-san…" Koushiro did not even go through the trouble of smiling. "I'm the one who actually has red hair. Yours is orange."
Sora was extremely offended by that comment. Orange was the superior ginger! Her hair had the fire red and golden yellow combining in a beautiful divine creation! What was Koushiro's hair compared to hers?
"Koushiro-kun…" The girl who had the divine orange hair attempted to lend some of her capillary grace to her voice. "Don't you understand that orange is simply objectively superior to red? My hair is the perfect wedding of two primary colors that bring their ultimate power to a well-balanced mix that is greater than its parts to become a transcendental experience: a conversation of colors."
"That sounds like one of Yamato-san's songs." Koushiro commented.
"It was a song he wrote for me, so it's okay for me to use it." Sora stated, feeling victorious.
"But, in the end, the fact stays that your hair is not red." Koushiro said.
"Orange is red and yellow fused!" The girl insisted.
"Still, that makes you orange-head, not red-head!" The boy would not give up.
"Orange-red is a mouthful to say! Redhead is a lot simpler!" Sora argued.
"You can call yourself redhead if you want. But for you to be the ultimate redhead would be scientifically inaccurate." Koushiro pointed out.
"Don't you think I'll fall for that, Izumi Koushiro! I know very well that there's only one ginger gene!" Sora was defiant.
"Listen, Takenouchi Sora, I was talking about the components of light and not Genetics." Koushiro explained.
It was when they realized that Mimi was staring at them in shock.
"D-did we go too far?" Sora asked, worried.
"I-I thought we were just having harmless fun. Did I get out of line at some point?" Koushiro was visibly anxious.
"You guys just dropped the honorifics for each other." Mimi told them, amazed.
Both Sora and Koushiro blushed furiously and stuffed their mouths with the milkshakes they had ordered. Mimi, on the other hand, believed that she had been the responsible for making the ginger pair take another step in their friendship and was very proud of it.
"Maybe, the ultimate redhead is not one person. But two people who came a long way and now feel comfortable enough to be competitive with each other." Mimi concluded, triumphantly, once they left the shop.
Sora and Koushiro glanced at each other. They both smiled broadly.
"Then, we are both the ultimate redhead, Koushiro." Sora spoke with tenderness.
"Sora…" Koushiro pronounced her name slowly, as if enjoying the sound of that word without any 'san' to add after it. He looked into her eyes as he completed his sentence, showing Sora a large smile:
"I'm grateful that we're closer to each other, but, in the end of the day, orange still is different from red."
That argument would continue for many decades, until their hairs became white. Their grandchildren would make sure that such important discussion would live until the end of days.
Like the friendship between Koushiro and Sora lived until the end of their lives.
I dedicate this fic to Sku. I hope it makes you smile. Te quiero. :)